I removed the Front Undercover on the bottom of my 2022 Model 3 Performance today, because i had a lift and was curious. I see a Oil Filter on the Motor assembly, it looks just like a normal screw on auto oil filter. I assume the rear motor has the a similar Filter. I hope someone can explain this to me, looks like a future service item.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Oil Filter on Motors
- Thread starter Bobs EV Toy
- Start date
Lindenwood
Active Member
They are a super long-term service item because there is no combustion to taint them. In the same way ICE differentials go 60-100k miles between services, this is about what we are looking at.
Upvote
0
The drive units have oil as a lubricant. I believe Tesla considers it to last the life of the car these days, there is no drive unit oil change schedule.
In the early Model S days there was a regular drive unit oil replacement schedule. It was much longer than ICE engine oil change intervals thankfully, I forget how long. They seem to have retroactively removed that and no longer recommend ever changing drive unit oil even on the original Model S, let alone newer vehicles.
Whether you want to treat the drive unit oil that way is up to you of course. If you're owning this car for the long haul, might not be a bad idea to change it every so often, like 50k or 60k miles or whatever to make up a number. I'm no expert though, this advice is worth what you just paid for it, $0. I had Tesla replace the drive unit oil on our Model S again even after they stopped recommending it. We've kept that car well past all of its warranties and I don't want any unnecessary big ticket repairs. (Its drive unit had already been replaced once under warranty.)
In the early Model S days there was a regular drive unit oil replacement schedule. It was much longer than ICE engine oil change intervals thankfully, I forget how long. They seem to have retroactively removed that and no longer recommend ever changing drive unit oil even on the original Model S, let alone newer vehicles.
Whether you want to treat the drive unit oil that way is up to you of course. If you're owning this car for the long haul, might not be a bad idea to change it every so often, like 50k or 60k miles or whatever to make up a number. I'm no expert though, this advice is worth what you just paid for it, $0. I had Tesla replace the drive unit oil on our Model S again even after they stopped recommending it. We've kept that car well past all of its warranties and I don't want any unnecessary big ticket repairs. (Its drive unit had already been replaced once under warranty.)
Upvote
0
Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
Old-fashioned cars should have their gearbox oil changed approximately once-in-a-lifetime, if ever.
Tesla wasn't satisfied with that interval so they added a filter to ensure that there could NEVER be a need to change the oil.
Tesla wasn't satisfied with that interval so they added a filter to ensure that there could NEVER be a need to change the oil.
Upvote
0
You replace gearbox oil because it shears and breaks down. Oil filters don't do anything for this. They are there for when you get fairly large metal chunks or other large contaminants.
Upvote
0
Like I mentioned, oil shears and breaks down anytime there is load on it. It does not require combustion gasses or high temps, although those do highly accelerate it.
Upvote
0
Oil filters have a bypass relief valve that will keep the oil flowing. That's how it work with ICE. Don't know if there is enough pressure in the drive unit to overcome a clog so you may be right.If there's enough metal shavings produced to clog that filter, your drive motor will be toast at that point and the replacement motor will come with a shiny new filter.
Upvote
0
jackmott
Member
Yes, each motor has a filter. They are designed to last the life of the car. If you end up keeping the car unusually long, or drive the car unusually hard, you might want to replace them and the fluid one day. There are even larger aftermarket filters with heat shedding fins you can get if you plan to track the car.
Upvote
0
If you're tracking your Model 3, or operating a fleet of them, sure. Otherwise it's difficult to see how paying for an oil analysis will make sense. You're already changing the oil at that point. How many drive unit oil change intervals are any of us really going to keep our Model 3's for? I can see us keeping our M3P for 150k miles, but that would be only 2 OCI's with 50k-75k guesstimate interval.
It's not like frequent ICE oil changes where paying for analysis can really help you dial in the interval.
Also if you're going to do this, you need to send in a sample of the same oil as new, right? Which to be accurate will mean doing an extra drive unit oil change *now* so you know for sure you're sending in a representative sample as the baseline.
Upvote
0
The oil in both of my drive units had a good amount of particles at <40k miles; Blackstone said it was likely from break in.
Upvote
0
heavyD
Member
Anyone just using the car for commuting should follow the manufacturer recommended service intervals and leave it at that. I have spent enough decades on car forums to know that some owners just can't sleep at night unless they know their vehicle has clean fluids but in most cases it's wasteful and at worst creates issues that didn't previously exist. We are at the stage where there's a lot of Teslas on the roads so if there were motor failure issues due to lubrication failure we would have heard about it by now. I know some owners feel good when they do something to their vehicle that they think is helping it or making it last longer but the reality is that you are best off just leaving the car alone.
Upvote
0
Gauss Guzzler
Safety Score = 42
No one cares about the condition of the oil. They care about the condition of the gearbox.
So if hundreds of people start reporting gearbox trouble that appears to be oil-age related, you should probably sell your car before that age.
So if hundreds of people start reporting gearbox trouble that appears to be oil-age related, you should probably sell your car before that age.
Upvote
0
I'd love to see the data where you based this fact you have shared from.
I for one am definitely interested in seeing long interval oil reports from more than one source since no oil in any application ever has an infinite lifespan. Results could very well conclude that the oil holds up well enough to not be an issue or that some people in extreme climates or who have above average commutes may want to have it done. It has been proven multiple times by multiple sources that cars with "lifetime" fluids can still benefit from changes, just at extremely long intervals. I put 35K+ annual on my cars and I live in the desert with 115F+ temps so I expect to be needing more than normal maintenance.
Upvote
0
Similar threads
